Though viewed from a distance, Saturn's main rings may

A similiar problem is also stated in the document Dahiya provided. In B when is wrong since it is illogocal (red part).

C is the right answer

OA is D.

I chose B on the practice exam.

B: 'composed of thousands of icy ringlets when viewd up close' suggests that viewing up close changed the property of the Saturn's rings.

D: I thought that 'reveals them to be composed of' was unnessary and wordy, but D conveys the meaning correctly and avoids appears 'to be'. Appear (o) vs Appears to be (x redundant)

A lot of 700+ questions seem to play with meaning rather than grammar.
These questions are absolutely devastating in a real exam as you have much less time to think.

Hi sivasanjeev,

Can you elaborate more on why B is wrong because of using "in fact"?

I agree D is fine enough to be the OA but I am not completely convinced with eliminating B.

Thanks.

Hello cssk

In option B,

Though Saturn's main rings may appear smooth and continuous when viewed from a distance, they are in fact composed of thousands of separate icy ringlets when viewed up close.

When is acting as a conjunction , the meaning of which translates to 'at the time' or 'in the event that'

So, the sentence would mean, 'at the time of viewing up close, the rings are composed of thousands of icy ringlets' and 'otherwise, the rings are smooth and continuous'
The actual fact is 'The rings are always composed of icy ringlets. But they only 'appear' so when viewed up close.

p.s. edited my explanation.

Both "Though" and "When" are working as subordinating conjunction. A subordinating conjunction needs a clause. IN option D "when viewed from a distance" has no subject. Is this construction is correct?
Please explain

An analysis of the question asks valid queries to be answered.

The Original Sentence -Though viewed from a distance, Saturn's main rings may appear to be smooth and continuous, they are in fact composed of thousands of separate icy ringlets when viewed up close.

Though is normally used to show some contradiction or to show opposing views/opinions. E.g. Though not a great ground fielder, (but) Shane Warne was an excellent slip catcher.

In the original sentence the placement of though does not make the opening phrase look correct. As cited in the Warne example, the contradiction needed to be stated after the comma. Instead the phrase is awkwardly modifying the subject- Saturn's main rings.

The option B - Though Saturn's main rings may appear smooth and continuous when viewed from a distance, they are in fact composed of thousands of separate icy ringlets when viewed up close.

In this option Though is placed before the main subject- Saturn's main rings, therefore, the comma should be followed by words such as however, but etc. "They are in fact" does not amount to any contradiction/irony but just stating a fact. So the contrast is not clear. Additionally, the meaning of the sentence is debatable. The second clause literally means that saturn's main rings are composed of separate icy ringlets only when you view them up close, i.e. what if we don't view them up close, would this change the composition? The answer is no.

The option C - Saturn's main rings, when viewed from a distance, may appear to be smooth and continuous, though when viewed up close they are in fact composed of thousands of separate icy ringlets.

This choice starts with the main subject- Saturn's main rings followed by an appositive. We can trim the sentence to - Saturn's main rings may appear to be smooth and continuous- Clause 1

Though when viewed up close they are in fact composed of thousands of separate icy ringlets.- Clause 2.

The problem with the sentence is evident. Clause 2 should begin with the main subject noun or pronoun in this case, however, it begins with - though when viewed up close. Therefore, this sentence is not contrasting the subject in a parallel manner. Moreover, reading the clause 2 literally gives a similar meaning error as in choice B

Coming to choice D - When viewed from a distance, Saturn's main rings may appear smooth and continuous, but closer viewing reveals them to be composed of thousands of separate icy ringlets.

The opening phrase- When viewed from a distance correctly modifies Saturn's main rings- We are okay upto this point. Now I read the sentence without the opening phrase and it looks like

Saturn's main rings may appear smooth and continuous, but closer viewing reveals them to be composed of thousands of separate icy ringlets.
The sentence structure - "Saturn's main rings may appear X but closer viewing reveals them to be Y" gives a better contradiction than the first three and the placement of modifier is okay. We may have a slight inhibition regarding the parallel construction so let us check choice E

Choice E- Though composed of thousands of separate icy ringlets if viewed up close, the main rings of Saturn may appear smooth and continuous when they are viewed from a distance.

This sentence has major flaws- The first flaw is a meaning error similar to choice B - read the first part of the sentence literally. Moreover, the subject to be modified should be "Saturn's main rings" and not "the main rings of Saturn" ( GMAT likes subjects in active voice) .

Therefore, D is the best possible choice.

oh man..what a nightmare the question..took me slightly less than 3 minutes. was stuck between B and D.

A. run-on sentence. so out.
B. "when viewed up close" - i would rather try to put the adverbial modifier as close as possible to the verb that it modifies. As it is - the rings are in fact composed of icy ringlets when viewed...illogical..
C. when viewed - they are in fact - I dont like it.
D - looks good.
E - IF viewed - out right away.

The sentences C and D seem to state the facts straight, What is the error in C . I cannot spot it

(C) has the same error as does (B).
"when viewed up close they are in fact..."

The point is that they are composed of separate icy ringlets no matter how and from where you view them. Closer viewing just reveals that they are composed of separate ringlets.
Check this: though-viewed-from-a-distance-saturn-s-main-rings-may-104457.html#p816941

(D) is the correct answer.

Official solution from Manhattan Prep

The original sentence introduces the main clause with "though viewed from a distance", which establishes the expectation of a contradiction that never materializes. For example, "Though sleepy, the child stayed awake" is correct, whereas "Though sleepy, the child may have eaten soup" is not. Also, "when viewed up close" is placed in such a way as to illogically suggest that the rings are composed of icy ringlets only when being viewed up close. Finally, the words "to be" in "appear to be" are redundant.

(A) This choice is incorrect as it repeats the original sentence.

(B) The placement of "when viewed up close" illogically suggests that the rings are composed of icy ringlets as a result of being viewed up close.

(C) This choice incorrectly uses the redundant phrase "appears to be." Additionally, the use and placement of the words "when viewed up close, they are . . ." illogically suggests that the rings are composed of icy ringlets as a result of being viewed up close.

(D) CORRECT. This choice shortens "appear to be" to "appear." Further, its use of the phrase "closer viewing reveals" clearly indicates that the close viewing only reveals (not causes) the composition of the rings.

(E) The placement of "if viewed up close" illogically suggests that the rings are composed of icy ringlets as a result of being viewed up close.

Option D also has “When viewed from distance…”.
How is that correct?

Can you please throw light on this

Posted from my mobile device

Hello samagra21,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, in Option D only the clause "Saturn's main rings may appear smooth and continuous" is modified by a "when" phrase; this modification produces a logical meaning - that at the time when Saturn's main rings are viewed from a distance, they appear smooth and continuous.

By contrast, in Option B, the clause "they are in fact composed of thousands of separate icy ringlets" is also modified by a "when" phrase ("when viewed up close"), illogically implying that the rings are made up of separate icy ringlets, only when they are viewed up close, and are not made up of separate ringlets at other times.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

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